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Even as it gropes in the dark about BJP’s plan on the Uniform Civil Code, Congress is learnt to have formed an internal panel to explore the issue to prepare the party.
Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has formed an informal committee of eight leaders, including legal eagles and MPs, to go into the tricky subject. Headed by P Chidambaram, it is as much to advise the party chief as to form a discussion paper for the party for future, with no formal report to be put in the public domain. Congress has announced that it cannot offer its views on the subject till the government has put forth a proposal with specific provisions. However, it has attacked the ruling BJP by arguing that the UCC is its yet another attempt to polarise the electorate, pointing out that the previous law commission mentioned in its report that there was no need for a Uniform Code at present.
The same line has been proffered by other opposition parties, even as they have limited their comments on the contentious issue, realising that it will only fan the debate that generally works to the advantage of BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a national debate last month when during a public rally in Bhopal he sprung the subject on the electorate by advocating “one law for all”. While it came in what is viewed as the BJP’s launch of the election campaign in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the law commission as well as the parliamentary standing committee on law headed by the BJP immediately followed up on the PM’s call. The parliamentary panel held a meeting last week on the subject. The BJP-ruled Uttarakhand has already announced that it will soon implement the UCC in the state based on the report of an expert committee it had formed earlier.
However, the national brainstorming has started with an all-round call from the Scheduled Tribes as well as from the BJP quarters, that the tribal communities should be exempted from the ambit of a future UCC.
By general reckoning, the code could be the source of a fierce political debate with the onset of the election calendar starting end-year.
Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has formed an informal committee of eight leaders, including legal eagles and MPs, to go into the tricky subject. Headed by P Chidambaram, it is as much to advise the party chief as to form a discussion paper for the party for future, with no formal report to be put in the public domain. Congress has announced that it cannot offer its views on the subject till the government has put forth a proposal with specific provisions. However, it has attacked the ruling BJP by arguing that the UCC is its yet another attempt to polarise the electorate, pointing out that the previous law commission mentioned in its report that there was no need for a Uniform Code at present.
The same line has been proffered by other opposition parties, even as they have limited their comments on the contentious issue, realising that it will only fan the debate that generally works to the advantage of BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a national debate last month when during a public rally in Bhopal he sprung the subject on the electorate by advocating “one law for all”. While it came in what is viewed as the BJP’s launch of the election campaign in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the law commission as well as the parliamentary standing committee on law headed by the BJP immediately followed up on the PM’s call. The parliamentary panel held a meeting last week on the subject. The BJP-ruled Uttarakhand has already announced that it will soon implement the UCC in the state based on the report of an expert committee it had formed earlier.
However, the national brainstorming has started with an all-round call from the Scheduled Tribes as well as from the BJP quarters, that the tribal communities should be exempted from the ambit of a future UCC.
By general reckoning, the code could be the source of a fierce political debate with the onset of the election calendar starting end-year.
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